How to Tame a Dog Demon
by Ai Kisugi
Summary: Canon Divergence. One-shot. What if Kagome learned much earlier in her quests with Inuyasha that there are ways to subdue him other than his beads of subjugation?


_**How To Tame A Dog Demon**_

_Canon Divergence. One-shot. What if Kagome learned much earlier in her quests with Inuyasha that there are ways to subdue him other than his beads of subjugation?_

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Special thanks to my talented betas: Blackdeathmessenger, SplendentGoddess and Karaumea!_

_Rated T for Inuyasha's foul mouth.  
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I recently re-watched Inuyasha episode #37 "The Man Who Fell in Love with Kagome." It is the episode where Koga kidnaps Kagome and then declares his love for her. I kept on thinking, what if Kagome was a little more honest, forthright and mature with Inuyasha? How could this situation be a little different? Could it perhaps end without the horrible misunderstanding that erupts? What if Kagome talked to Inuyasha rather than using the beads of subjugation to subdue him?_

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Inuyasha stood poised over the field of battle. Ripped feathers of the harpies, splatters of blood, broken weapons and rent flesh were strewn about. But that was not what had him gaping in abject alarm; it was Kagome with her arms around Koga. The very demon that had kidnapped her, harmed her, endangered her… _Why the fuck is she hugging him?_

He flexed his claws as the wolf demon pushed himself away from Kagome, attempting to continue the fight. The half demon pulsed with anger. _I'm going to kill that bastard!_ It would have been easy to simply destroy the mangy wolf with a 'Wind Scar,' but instead he raised his claws. He wanted his foe to suffer. But there was something more churning inside of him. Unfortunately, he couldn't put a name on it.

When Kagome had been kidnapped, he had frantically feared for her life. When he had rescued her and she had hugged him tight, telling him how scared she had been—and he had been content. Life was as it should be. He was made to protect her, especially from stinking wolf demons! But now, that feeling of contentment had been shredded, leaving him suddenly bereft. Instead he was left with something bitter, something inexplicable—something that wanted nothing more than to tear Koga of the Wolf Demon tribe limb from limb.

He ran toward the wolf demon that was trying to stand stoically, his arms already a bloody mess. However, the wolf demon had a few surprises in him. Even injured, Kagome's would-be-suitor was quick. _It has to be those damned jewel shards!_

His first attempt at dismembering Koga ended with a swish of his claws cutting a few stray hairs from the demon's ponytail.

Kagome stood near the two combatants in confusion and fear. Inuyasha had been her protector, her rock. Sure, he was a dense, pig headed rock—but, he was her rock. He always stood by her and had saved her life countless times. She couldn't help but to feel affection toward the man who had repeatedly saved her life while risking his own. Ever since he had saved her from the Noah mask demon, the feelings she had felt for him percolated up in her heart and had threatened to boil over. But what would they turn into once they escaped?

_Koga?_ She didn't know how she felt about him. She was intensely flattered that he had declared his love for her so publicly. Inuyasha had never told her that she was brave, loving and an asset in battle.

Yet, something in her turned toward the silver haired hanyou who seemed even more enraged at Koga than he had been when they had arrived. In fact, he seemed more than angry; he seemed to be seething in jealousy.

She heard Miroku call out to her above the dim of the battle, "He was quite worried about you, Kagome. To tell you the truth, I feel a bit sorry for him…"

Kagome's heart sank and rose at the same time. She looked again at the two combatants with nervous apprehension and with something that crested and spilled past her chest—some sort of longing that pulled her toward the hanyou.

She knew that she needed to stop the male pissing match in front of her before someone got hurt. The miko also knew that the easiest way was to murmur those easy two little words. But Mirkou's words echoed in her mind. Inuyasha had just been worried about her and was only trying to protect her. Would it be right to humiliate him with a face-plant in front of Koga just because he had been concerned?

She had actually enjoyed the beads of subjugation after Kaede had placed them on Inuyasha's neck—perhaps a little too much. After all, the half demon had attempted to kill her and steal the Shikon Jewel. She had always seen the beads as a way of putting the hanyou and herself on an equal footing. She didn't have Inuyasha's strength, but she did have a way to stop him in his tracks whenever she wanted to. She was quite sure that without the beads he would have succeeded in his first attempts to trap her in the past, and sadly, perhaps he might have even killed her when they first met.

"Will you two stop fighting? I'm not hurt, so it doesn't…" Kagome tried to reason.

"That's not the point!" Inuyasha screamed. "He and I have something to settle now!"

The girl moved between the two battling demons with two outstretched arms. "This will stop now!" Koga momentarily stopped fighting while Inuyasha bristled and flexed his claws.

"That bastard kidnapped you, Kagome! And I'm not going to let him get away with it!"

"Inuyasha…" her words were gentle and smooth. She moved closer to him and he looked warily into her eyes. "Inuyasha, when you first met me…you tried to kill me."

Koga snorted in laughter as Inuyasha's face fell. He could no longer feel his sword of power pulse at his side. With mere words she had cut him all the way down to his core. He tried to shake off the feelings of insecurity, loneliness and self-loathing that were bubbling up inside of him. His feet faltered, and when he glanced at Kagome's eyes, his golden orbs were brimmed with immense sadness.

"And you feel like you have the right to judge me!" yelled Koga in sheer arrogance. He laughed again to himself, his guffaws echoing down the canyon. "I only kidnapped her. You tried to kill her! Stupid mutt-face!"

But for some bizarre reason, Kagome moved even closer to Inuyasha, despite her earlier barb. Her gray-blue eyes, full of understanding, met his bitter, sad ones. "But I forgave you, Inuyasha."

"Forgave?" He finally felt some meager moment of hope swell in his body. His eyes searched hers, looking for any hidden meanings.

"Yes, baka! I forgave you! I forgave Miroku for trying to steal my jewel shards and for kidnapping me. I forgave Shippo for trying to steal my jewel shards and for tricking me. Why can't I forgive Koga for kidnapping me, too?"

Inuyasha's mouth dropped as he shook his head trying to process the information.

"But I…but I." He stared a Kagome in desperation, and the words just leaked out of his mouth. "I wasn't going to kill you Kagome. I could never kill you." His eyes were so blindingly honest that Kagome felt that looking at them was like looking into his very soul. "Yes, I threatened you and I tried to steal the jewel. But hell, Kagome..." He grabbed Kagome by the shoulders, while he still grasped his mangled sword and shook her gently. "You have to believe me when I say that I'd never harm you. All I want to do is protect you."

Kagome blinked as she looked up at her silver-haired hanyou and his ears that were plastered against his head in utter mortification.

"You…you weren't trying to kill me?" she asked in hopeful confusion.

After his eyes had momentarily lowered, his eyes glanced back up to hers. "How could I ever harm you Kagome? I just felt angry—betrayed. I was lashing out. But even then…even then I knew you were something special."

"Special…" she continued for him.

Inuyasha gulped. This was a territory that he had never really entered before. He could only grip her shoulders even tighter and nod vigorously.

A shy smile drew itself on her lips, while Koga still seemed to be laughing in the background. Kagome had a peculiar look on her face. One of understanding, of knowing something…something Inuyasha was not privy to.

Then the curious human girl, the one who infuriated him and the one who made him care again, the one who had tugged his heart constantly in two different directions, she stood on her tiptoes and leaned forward to press her lips against his.

Suddenly, his Tessaiga clattered to the ground. He had never been more shocked in his entire life. _She's kissing me? Oh, fuck…she's kissing me!_

Koga's insipid chortles abruptly came to a halt.

Inuyasha didn't know why she was kissing him, but it was one of the nicest things he had ever experienced. Kikyo had kissed him on the lips as well, her lips of clay, and with the lingering smell of ash and death in the air. But with Kagome, with her sweet and gentle scent that he craved swirling around him, her warm, soft form in his arms; this was by far the loveliest thing he had ever done.

As her tongue licked at the space between his lips, he couldn't help but to part them. Gingerly, their tongues met shyly, trying to gauge the other's reaction as they greeted each other tentatively.

Soon, the surprise of Kagome's kiss was eased. _She's kissing me! Me! Not Wolf-shit! _Kagome sighed against his mouth, and her fingers crept up his neck to fiddle with his long hair before one stray hand started to stroke his dog-like ear.

He moaned. _Oh fuck! _He felt his leg quiver and he wanted to shake it like any pleased dog would have done with a good ear scratching. But, he controlled his baser instincts and instead pulled Kagome closer to him, pressing her warm, giving flesh against him.

He was so enraptured with the kiss that he didn't notice Kagome motioning to Ginta and Hakkaku to get Koga out of the area. It wasn't until he heard the stinking wolf demon cry out that he even noticed that Koga's two clansmen were carrying his bloodied form away.

"Kagome!" the wolf demon called out. "You'd be happier with me than a pup like him!"

He couldn't help but to smirk over Kagome's shoulder; she didn't even appear to have heard Koga. _Serves the fucker right! Trying to take what is mine!_

It was then that the second jolt of astonishment passed through him. _Kagome? Mine?_ He quickly paused in kissing her to beam a smile at her, before pressing his lips even more fervently against her own._ Yes, dammit! Mine! Not his!_

He was too distracted with the kiss and his own internal happiness to hear the ramblings of his group.

"Doesn't he know she just kissed him to let Koga get away?" murmured Shippo in a bored tone.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," muttered Miroku. "She could have just sat him."

Shippo's eyes widened with the realization. "Then why didn't she?" He had really been looking forward to seeing Inuyasha suffer another face-plant, and it would have been even better to see it happen on the hard stone.

Miroku only patted him on his head. "You'll know when you get older, Shippo."

"Hey! Wait," exclaimed Shippo as he followed Miroku and Sango who seemed to want to distance themselves from the very public display of affection that was occurring. "Does this have something to do with going far with a girl? I asked Inuyasha, but he wouldn't answer me. In fact, the baka just hit me."

"Imagine that," commented Miroku drolly as he continued walking away.

The fox demon could only tip his head, perplexed in thought as he followed his two teammates.

Kagome sighed as she pulled away, Inuyasha's lips trying to trail after hers. He couldn't help but to bump his lips against hers one last time before stepping back.

His eyes still mirrored confusion, but now there was something else there that Kagome had never seen before, something akin to wonderment and satisfaction.

Her head titled a little to the right as she observed his face. Gone was the lingering gruffness and hurt that usually marred his features. In its place was a happiness she had never seen reflected in Inuyasha's eyes before.

"You kissed me?!" he said with astonishment.

"Of course, baka!" she replied as she playfully batted at his chest.

"Why?" he asked, his face full of longing and questions. She had never seen his face so unguarded as it was at that moment.

Thoughts tugged at her mind and her own mouth paused slightly open as she formulated a response._ I can't tell him that I was trying to distract him so that Koga could get away unharmed. _She touched her own lips and then smiled back up at Inuyasha. _But, wow, that was wonderful…so much better than sitting him._

Her smile caused one to tug onto Inuyasha's lips.

"Because I wanted to," was all she said as she looked up at her hanyou under her dark, lacy lashes. And, as she said the words, she knew they were true. Maybe she was just trying to be merciful and get their fight to end without bloodshed and without humiliating Inuyasha with a 'SIT.' However, she also now knew, that somewhere deep in her heart, she loved the hanyou before her and that she could never love another.

She looked down at their joined hands. She squeezed his hand gently. "Let's catch up with the others. We have a lot of travel ahead of us before we can get back to the village."

Inuyasha only nodded his head in agreement, his eyes gazing at Kagome in sheer wonderment as they walked together, hand in hand.

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**_Author's Notes:_**

_#1: I had to throw a canon kiss in there. If Rumiko isn't going to give us one, then I wanted to step in and give the pair a reason to get closer. Oh, and I'm crossing my fingers that the animators will still give us at least one Inu/Kag kiss. They gave us one in movie 2, now I'm just hoping that we get another one in the very last episode of 'Inuyasha: The Final Act.' Please!!! I'm begging! Can anyone contact the animators and plead my case?_

_#2: For those of you who are wondering about 'He's My Girl,' the next chapter will probably be posted in about a week. It is currently 27 single-spaced, pages long. It is posted under Karaumea's account in Fan Fiction and Media Miner, under both of our names under 'Eternal Destiny' and under my name at Adult Fan Fiction._


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